X Collection
INDEX
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS
,1, III I mil iiiii liin ;mu "J" jlill jjlil Ijll IIJi
Page:.
029 767 045 1 sumber
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS
iiJIJi III" ■■" '"" '"" '"" "" '"" '"" '"" '"*' "" I'll
lillllilllllilillllllMillll
029 767 043 8
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS
IIIII lis Hill III I I'lSi lii'li !!!" I"" ""I nil' iiii III!
lUlllllllllllllllllHlilllJ
029 767 044 P
Box Number
i^Q^A
Total of
Volumes
3l
^7
30
Call Number
pa 1103. z<?
/^^o-. \~ ^o
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS
iillJl1llll]li«]|||ln^^^:'ll■''' "'''■'■'' '""""'••>
029 767 046 3
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS
!!!!!!!!! II !!!!!!! !!i !>i>i'"iim>>iiiim'iiiiiiiiiiii
IfHA
<P;^
029 767 047 5
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS
|ii|ii[iiiiiiijiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiij IIIII mil mil nil II
029 767 048 7
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS
!!!!!! !!lll !!!!! !!!!! !!!!i !!!i! !"i' '*!'i ""' *'*'■ i^i' I'l' '"i
^"
^'
^IZ3
15
HlfA
\hm
029 767 049 9
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS
I iiiiii IIIII mil IIIII mil mil iiiii iiiii iiiii in iiiii iiii iiii
029 767 050 5
\iQ-0
\^
'\
YM^
K
fai^;?^zs
P(l^^■b$.Z^
-^■-■^^'
"■^^^
•
X Collection
INDEX
Page:.
2.
Barcode Number
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
■UN iiiJi Mill tiiii mil iiiii mil mil iim nm mi mi
029 767 051 7
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
I III I iliii IIIII jilu !■'" '!'" '"" '"" '"" '"" "li! IPi !!!
029 767 052 9
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
!!!!!! !!'" "'*■ *'*'■ '■"
IIIII Hill mil Hill nil nil
029 767 053
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
! ■■{[' "Jjl "[jj IIIK 'llll IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII nil fill
— 029 767 054 2
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
I [HID Hill IIIII IIIII IIIII Hill IIIII mil Hill IIIII IIIII llll llll
029 767 055 4
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
im IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII mil IIIII II
029 767 056 6
Box Number
\^%^
lk2^
IGoT.
Total of
V^olumes
")o
^
/C03
/Q^
^7-
Q1?
Call Number
pa
P 9 Col^,cf(
a4
JX
Inventing —
AS A BUSINESS
A PLAN
TO SAFEGUARD
INVENTORS
By
HUGO GERNSBACK
99 Hudson Street New York, N. Y.
r^
""^iAi; Zh
Copyright 1933 by Hugo Gornsbaek, Now York
'^
t
■a
.*•
c
CHRISTMAS 1946 ^ 2Sst
Digest of Digests
ARTICLES OF WASTING IJ«TEREST/:-3^ ^~"
Publisher's Page . .2
TKe Electronic Baby Coroner 3
Giamorontc Women Noman 8
Super Book Condensation 9
. . . and Sodden Death Reaper's Digest 10
Drunk Checker . 13
Edisoniana . Uncork 14
The Egg and YOU Hexology 16
Unprofessional M.D.'s Medieval Economics 18
Love in These United States Your Wife 21
The Radio Brain Ratio Digest 22
The Human Factor Science Divest 24
The Superfect Crime EUery Queer's Magazine 26
Relativity 30
Why TIME sued Gernsback Reader's Slope 31
Wolf Detector .33
A Great Literary Event OmniJook 34
Forever Amber, Book Supercondensation 34
lJltta>Condensation 3g
mm
irAiiiiii
HUGO 6ERNSBACK, Emitor
-_i4 :. _,•
PARTS SmiUfi^
NOMeeR
':1aM||'
^
!^--:i .
X-PS3513I
i'a
>
.^.
#
c
RADIO
TH BRUSH
SEE PAGE 8
/
«|»^
RADIO-ELECTRONITWITS WITH ALL THEIR PHONIES
:3ESijjtsSit«E2;
POPULAR
NECKANICS
GAGAZINE
ii/
ElECniOMC
ROBOTSTRREO CAR
run 1
CHRISTMAS 1947
25 SC£N'
POPULAR
NECKANICS
GACAZINE
WRIT7CH so TQU CAN'T UMDiHSTAHOlV
ElKTtONK
RMOTSTHItB) CAI
»Ci >
^5,
M
MEWS WEAKLY • X-MAS,I949
UMBER
.' t' y
: 'nripA.^.Ti f je ^ fw ^'] ■;:-
WorfdWarlll^
Newspefef
DOCUMENTATION
Of Th«
P "-MAR 2,9
X-p$3513
£8.(r ^!^
LEARN-WHILE-YOU-SLEEP METHOD
By HUGO GERNSBACK
THE Learn-while-you-sleep method of
instruction has lately been described in
a number of publications. Imparting
knowledge to the sleeping individual has
the following advantages:
1. The period while ■we are asleep is usual-
ly wasted, when it could 'be used to impart
useful knowledge to the subconscious men-
tality.
2. Many individuals cannot master cer-
tain subjects while awake, whereas it has
been proved by actual experience that they
can master them while soundly asleep, for
instance learning the telegraphic code.
Recently a number of individuals have
been given credit in various magazine arti-
cles as having originated the learn-while-
you-sleep method. It is for this reason that
the writer has found it necessary to publish
the present detailed documentation.
As will be observed from the photographic
reproductions in this presentation, the writer
originated the learn-while-you-sleep method
in 1911.
It was first described in detail in the
writer's magazine MODERN ELECTRICS
monthly in his science fiction novel RALPH
124C 41+. This novel was serialized in
MODERN ELECTRICS, the first radio
magazine in the world. The installment con-
taining the Hypnobioscope (the learn-while-
you-sleep instrumentality) appeared in the
June, 1911, issue. (Circulation at that time
near 100,000.)
A second article giving further details on
the learn-while-you-sleep method appeared
in SCIENCE AND INVENTION magazine,
December, 1921, issue, under the title
"Work and Learn While You Sleep." (Cir-
culation at that time 200,000 copies.)
A third article describing how the writer's
original learn-while-you-sleep theory was
first put into practice ran in RADIO NEWS
magazine for October, 1923, under the title
"Learn While You Sleep." (Circulation at
that time 400,000 copies.) In this article.
Chief Radioman J. N. Phinney, U. S. Navy,
relates his actual work with the method, at
the Navy Training School at Pensacola, Flor-
ida, in 1922. Here students were successfully
taught Continental Code while they slept.
(See page 7.)
In recent years a number of magazines —
all with large national circulation — pub-
lished articles on the learn-while-you-sleep
method giving the writer credit as the
originator of the method:
1. TIME magazine, for January }, 1944,
published an article about the writer in
which the Hypnobioscope and the subcon-
scious learn-while-you-sleep method were
described.
2. CORONET magazine in July, 1944,
printed an article by the well-known writer
Howard Whitman who discussed the learn-
while-you-sleep method in an account de-
voted to the writer's -work.
3. MAGAZINE DIGEST for January,
1948. A further article discussing the Hyp-
nobioscope, learn-while-you-sleep idea ap-
peared in this magazine.
In addition to this, the method has been
described throughout the years in various
languages in many scientific magazines.
Some recent writers who should know
better, have quoted Aldous Huxley, in his
novel BRAVE NEW WORLD, as the origi-
nator of the idea. This claim is preposterous
for the simple reason that Huxley's novel
did not appear until 1932 — 21 years after
the -writer published his original method.
A number of imitators are now using the
earphone method which the writer original-
ly described in SCIENCE AND INVEN-
TION, December, 1921. This arrangement is
completely obsolete in the writer's opinion
because you cannot wear earphones and
sleep comfortably with them. The method of
using an earphone on top or in the bed pil-
low is inefficient, because it leaves one ear
open, infiltrating distracting outside noises.
This confuses the subconscious and makes it
impossible to get the most efficient reten-
tivity of the directed sounds.
The vriter has pointed this out to a num-
ber of people who have used his method
either commercially or for research purposes.
Throughout the years the writer's method
has been greatly improved and a mass-use
method of the learn-while-you-sleep idea
will come into use shortly. In the writer's
new development no ear or headphones are
used.
At present this newer method is in the
final development stage and until it is intro-
duced to the public, no details can be given.
It should furthermore be noted — for the
record — that the so-called brain w^ave pat-
terns which are often pointed out in connec-
tion with the learn-while-you-sleep method,
were also predicted by the writer at length
in his imaginary Menograph in 1911, pub-
lished in his novel RALPH 124C 41+ (see
page 4).
Dr. Hollowell Davis, of Harvard Medical
School, first demonstrated the brain thought
waves in 1935, exactly as the writer had
conceived them 2 J years before.
MARCH, 1950
R. A. Fallath, PUBLICITY
ItAlllO "" Rector 2-8630
£I.1:«:TIUI8IC8 J^^''Mi^^^
— NEWS RELEASE
25 WEST BROADWAY
NEW YORK 7, N. Y.
r
FOR RELEASE DECEMBER 21, 1951
The bride and groom of tomorrow ■will ■walk down the aisle knowing exactly how
much chance their marriage has of succeeding for they will have taken and passed
an electronic compatibility test. ^Then they drive off on their honeymoon — they
will ride secure in the knowledge that their car has been collision-proofed by
electronics.
Trlfhen, at last, they settle down in their own, little, dust and noise-free
love nest, it will be equipped with a 3-dimensional, full color " telebiovision"
set which will relay not only sight and sound but odors, tastes and sensations.
So says Hugo Gernsback, publisher of RADIO-ELECTRONICS magazine gmd Number 1
Science Prophet, in his annual Christmas greeting "Forecast 1952". Gernsback
has been sending these unique greetings since the early '30s.
In "Forecast 1952", he predicts, in addition to the devices mentioned, such
scientific strides forward as telecasting the sun's awesome corona from outer
space, airplane shelterways, thermo furniture, multiple TV sets and sleep condi-
tioners.
The uninitiated may arch an eyebrow at Hugo Gernsback' s "outlandish" fore-
casts, but those who know his remarkable record for deadly accurate scientific
prophecy, will take a more serious view. In his book, "Ralph 124C 41+", written
in 1911, he foretold - in accurate detail - television, radar, blood transfusions,
radio communication with the moon and many, many, other achievements — called
ridiculous in 1911, but fact today.
L't. Gernsback, partially explains his remarkable penchant for accurate
prophecy by pointing out that his predictions are not wild flights of fancy, but
the logical and natural projections of established scientific facts.
i if ir
c
X-PS3513.
Address Read Before i "^ ^
10th WORLD SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION -*' -A'//U On/ For Release
CHICAGO AUGUST 30 - 195 2 \ • - | -i ^ ^^ U August 31
C
t
THE IMPACT OF SCIENCE FICTION ON WORLD PROGRESS
By Hugo Gernsback
An imperceptible revolution has quietly taken place during the past 25 years a
revolution probably unparalleled in man's history. The revolution is the terrific
in5)act of Science Fiction on the world and world progress. Curiously enough, the agency
responsible for Science Fiction- -the authors, the publishers, and the readers, seem
ittle aware of this revolution and the real meaning and import of the dynamic force
that carries it forward.
Let me clarify the term Science Fiction. When I speak of Science Fiction I mean
the truly, scientific, prophetic Science Fiction with the full accent on SCIENCE. I
emphatically do not mean the fairy tale brand, the weird or fantastic type of what
mistakenly masquerades under the name of Science Fiction today. I find no fault with
fairy tales, weird and fantastic stories. Some of them are excellent for their enter-
tainment value, as amply proved by Edgar Allen Poe, but when they are advertised as
Science Fiction, then I must firmly protest.
Twenty- five years ago, before Science Fiction had become an organized and recognized
force the broad smoothly- flowing literary river it is today we had but a weak trickle
of occasional stories and here and there a book or two. It was a rarity when an author
wrote more than one or two Science Fiction stories. Rarer yet were a series of Science
iction books, such as those of the masters Jules Verne and H. G. Wells.
The truth is that in the early, formative years Science Fiction was hardly considered
:--<i
Testimonial
X-PS3513 v^j
to
Hugo gernsback
"Father of Science-Fiction
1903-1953
His Pipe Dreams Are
Tomorrow's Inventions
,*-•— — II ■■■ I
ERIC HUTTON
Reprinted from
MAGAZINE DIGEST
TORONTO, ONTARIO
1944 CORr
A REPRINT FROM Jl LY
A glimpse into tlie incubator of Science
which will prohably cause you to lean back
and gasp, "My gosh, little man! What next?
f
Truth Catches Up with His Fiction
by Howard Whitman
A British newspaper once called
Hugo Gernsback the greatest
living prophet. Right to that tide
was earned by Gernsback in show-
ing the world long in advance the
forms of such modem realities as
radio loudspeakers, chain broad-
casting, television, radar, rocket
planes and robot tanks.
The modern Leonardo da Vinci
is an inventor and publisher. He
communes with the future in an
old-fashioned downtown office in
New York near the Woolworth
Building. Among his 80 inven-
tions are the "osophone," — to en-
able deaf persons to hear through
their teeth, and the "hypnobio-
scope," a device by which people
may absorb education while they
sleep. This may develop to be the
complete answer to children's
school homework worries, he says.
At 59, Gernsback says of himself,
"I am a fountain of ideas, with
neither the time nor the patience
to translate them into money.
People of my type arc never good
businessmen."
In 36 years of publishing, Gems-
back has foimded some two dozen
X-PS35 13
publications,, mosr oPtfem in the
science field, with occasional diver-
sions into other lines, such as sex
and beauty. In 1911, when he was
publishing a little magazine called
Modern Electrics, he wrote the first
of the scientific chiUer-thriUer se-
rials, a story called "Ralph 124C
41 -f," a forerunner of the popular
"science fiction."
Gernsback called the yarn ".A.
Romance of the Year 2660" and
packed it with such visions as inter-
planetary communications, space
flyers, a futuristic battle between
an earthly lover and a Martian
rival, potent rays of many types,
a gadget to produce invisibility,
and other grist which the "science
fiction" mills of today still are
grinding upon.
The tide was a pun— Ralph One
to fore-see. Get it? It's pretty bad.
The 41-|- was Ralph's serial num-
ber, used instead of a name in the
year 2660. But in the scientific
' predictions Gernsback showed his
looking-toward-the-future stuff".
Ralph was a great scientist on
earth in the 27th century. The
story starts off" when through the
MAR ^9
o
Tlic controz'crsial tiiicstioii :
••ll'ho first used radar/" has never
been aiisz^-ered to everyone's satis-
facfioii.. Hoivcver the question:
-Who first suggested its teehiiical
use '" is easier to solve.
In vie-M of the jaet that the gov-
ernment no'.i' has lifted all restric-
tions on radar, it will come as a
surprise to many that the first
authentic technical record of radar
affeared in Xovember 1911. Tin-
article 7<.'as printed in the Decem-
ber 1911 issue of Modem Elec-
trics as shozcn on the right. It zvill
be seen that all of the present
radar conceptions zccre embodied
in this, the first authentic techni-
cal record of radar. Note particu-
larly the ivords "pulsating . . .
wave" — here first used. Radar
cannot operate ivithout pulsating
ivavcs.
In a letter dated December 20.
1944 to Hugo Gernsback, Dr.
Lee De Forest, father of radio,
and inventor of the vacuum tube
said as follows :
"Your fanciful suggestion as
far back as 1911 should certainly
have suggested to a later investi-
gator of ultra-high frequency ra-
dio beams the possibility of using
that principle as radar has nozv
been used, for the detection of
hostile airplanes. The chances are,
hozcever, that no investigator of
UHF (Ultra High Frcciuency)
radiations in the 1930'.? had ever
read z^hat you zvrotc in 1911. Vou
may, hozcever, take justifiable
pride in the farsightedness of
many of your startling sugges-
tions.''
The title of the article is a
mythical character living in the
year 2000. The article was one of
a series of pseudo scientific specu-
lations, nevertheless it is as techni-
cally sound as though zuritten to-
day by a serious radar engineer.
Radio-Craft
X»po35-13
' RADAR in ISlf^ '
The first authentic technical record of
RADAR to appear in print.
Reprinted from Modern Electrics, Vol. 4,
No. 9, page 593, December 1911 issue.
VOL. IV.
DECEMBER, 1911.
No. 9.
MODERN ELECTRICS
Ralph 124C 41 +
593
AT first thought it might be considered a
difficult feat accurately to locate a ma-
chine thousands of miles distant from
the earth, speeding in an unknown direction
somewhere in the bottomless universe. The
feat, while remarkable, is easy tp accomplish
by any up-to-date scientist. As far back as
the year 1800 astronomers accurately meas-
ured the distance between the earth and small
celestial bodies, but it was not until the year
2659 that the famous scientist 124C 41 suc-
ceeded in accurately determining the location
and distance of space flyers, far out in space,
where not even the most powerful telescope
could follow any more.
It has long been known that a puUaling
polarised ether wave, if directed on a metal
object, could be reflected in the same fashion
as a light ray can be reflected from a bright
surface or from a mirror. Moreover, the re-
flection factor varies with different metals
Thus the reflection factor from silver is 1,000
units, the reflection from iron 645, alomag-
nesium 460, etc. If, therefore, a polarized
wave generator were trained towards the
open space, the waves would take a direction
as shown in diagram, providing the parabolic
wave reflector was used as shown. By mani-
pulating the entire apparatus like a searchlight,
waves would be sent over a large area.
Sooner or later, if the search is kept up, these
waves must come in the direction of a space
flyer. Then a small part of the waves would
strike the metal body of the flyer, and these
waves would be reflected back to the sending
apparatus. Here they would fall on the
• Wave Reflector
(Continued.)
By H. Gernsback.
earth and the flyer is then accurately c.ilculat-
ed with but little trouble.
The reflection factor of magnelium (the
metal of which Fernand 60O lO's machine was
constructed) being 1060, Ralph located his
rival's space flyer in less th.in five hours'
search. He found that 60O lO's machine at
that time was about 4OO.C0O miles distant from
the earth and that the abductor of his sweet-
heart apparently was headed in the direction
of the planet Venus. A few seconds' calcu-
lation showed that he was flying at the rate
of about 45.000 miles per hour. This was a
great surprise for Ralph and it delighted him
at first. He knew that 60O lO's machine was
capable of makine at least 75,000 miles an
hour. This was certainly as strange as it was
puzzling Ralph reasoned that if he were in
his rival's place, he certainly would speed up
the flyer to tite utmost. Why then was 60O
10 flying so leisurely? Did he think himself
secure? Did he think that nobody could or
would follow? Or did he have trouble with
the Anti-Gravilatorf Ralph could not under-
stand it. However, his mind had already been
made up. He would of course chase his rival,
head him off, and, if necessary,— yes, he would
kill him.
He gave sharp and quick orders to his at-
tendants and ordered his space flyer, the
"Cassiopeia," to be made ready within one
hour. Provisions sufficient to last for six
months were put on board and Ralph himself
brought a large number of scientific instru-
ments to the flyer, many of which he calculat-
ed might turn out to be useful. He also or-
ACTJNOSCOPf
\ POUABIXED
^ WAVE>^PPARATua
Aclinoscope (see diagram), which records
only the reflected waves, not the direct ones.
From the actinoscope the reflection factor
is then determined, which accurately shows
from which metal the reflection comes. From
the intensity and the elapsed time of the re-
flected impulses, the distance between the
, Note — Thi» Norel itaited in Ibe April N -imhe-r Back issues coutamiug aU lostanments *U1 beturj
^ (Copyright 1911 by U. Gernsback. AU rljhts reseived.)
SPACE n-TEP
dered a large amount of duplicate parts of the
flyer's machinery to be put on board in case
of emergency, and he then bade farewell to
his family.
Although this was, of course, not the first
time he journeyed into space, the members of
his immediate family were g reatly concerned.
.ished at 10c cacb}
ATOMIC BUN IK 19 IS
in
a.
X
ago,
4 ,. *,.,„•„, nf WnrIA War II and the effects of the atomic bomb accurately predicted in 1915 — 30 years
,'y tt'TditTTTHE^EfEC™^^ now Editor of RADIO-ELECTRONICS
"4 vtachine zdiich at one stroke can annihilate several Army Corps" . . . to end all wars.
"Setting off spontaneously the dormant energy of the atom . . . concrete, steel, men and guns . . . gone
^conupletely. Only a dense cloud of vapor hanging in the air remams" ...
"A city of 300 000 souls (note that Hiroshima had 320,000) . . . houses, churches, bridges, parks . . . gone
up in a 'titanic vapor cloud; -only a vast crater in the ground where the thriving city once stood remains ...
"After this demonstration the enemy sues for peace: resistance zvould he folly. The country is conquered.
RADIO-ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE
25 West Broadivay, N. Y.
November. 1915
THE ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTER 3 ~ IVlAi ^^1 31S
Warfare of the Future
(
THE European War has clearly dem-
onstrated what a tremendous part
modern science plays in the offense
as well as in the defense of the contending
armies. It has often been said during the
past twelve months that this is not a war
so much of men as of machines- Noth-
ing couli be truer. In fact, it might be
said that this is a war of internal machines
against more diabolical machines.
It has been stated editorially in this
journal that there will be war always, or
at least till we arrive at a period when
some scientific genius (or shall be call
him devil?) invents a machine which at
one stroke is capable of annihilating one
or several army corps. When that time
arrives, soldiers, no matter how cour-
ageous, will think a long time before they
will offer themselves to be slaughtered by
the hundred thousand.
In the meantime, probably for many gen-
erations to come, the war death-dance will
go on without any doubt whatsoever. Hu-
manity simply has not advanced to suoi a
state where disarmament is possible- Our
real civilization only dates back less than
100 years, and as human progress is ex-
tremely slow, it may take a thousand years
and more before humans will learn how to
trust each other implicitly. As long as we
require policemen and jails to keep us out
of mischief, we are not able to take care
of ourselves and we cannot call ourselves
emancipated— we are still held in bondage
by the brute in ourselves, which threatens
to break out at any opportune moment, as
is witnessed in the present war:
Therefore, the pacificists, particularly
those in our country who think that this
is the "last war" and who go around shout-
ing peace at any price, are not only a sorry
lot. but they are cheerfully oblivious of
the teachings, of history as well as of
.human evolution.
These good people would shout murder
if you dared suggest to them to dismiss
at once all policemen and patrolmen of
their home town, but they would trust a
strange nation implicitly from making war
on this country, simply because that nation
pledged itself on a piece of paper not to
make warl . 1. •.
If the present war is ghastly with its
poison shells, its deadly chlonne gas, its
bomb^throwing aeroplanes, its fire-spraying
guns, its murderous machine guns, etc.,
what cin we expect of the wars of the
future? . . ,
What will happen when the saentists of
a hundred years hence begin making war
on each other?
[Suppose that by that time our saentists
have solved the puiile of the atom and
have succeeded in liberating its prodi«oas
forces. Imagine that at that time one atom
can be disintegrated at will, instantly into
another, what will happen? The results
will simply be overwhelmingly astounding
and almost incomprehensible to our present
minds. ., ,.
' It has been calculated that if we could
liberate the latent energy at present '<>«<"
up in a coppir one cent piece we would be
enabled to propel a train with 50 freight
By Hugo Gemsback
will you make yourself the first Master of
this Planet?"
The War Lord promptly asks for a se-
cret demonstration of the new "Atomie
Gun," and what he sees intoxicates his
imagination to such a degree that he de-
cides to make war on the entire world as
soon as his generals have assured him that
enough atomic guns have been manufac-
tured to make success certain. And one
beautiful spring morning our War Lord
finds a perfectly logical pretext to make
war on a few nations, and the latest war
dance is on.
Within a few hours the first atomic gun.
popularly known as the "Radium De-
stroyer," has crossed the enemy's frontier
The Radium Destroyer is mounted on
fast moving auto trucks and is controlled
entirely by Radio energy. No man is with-
in a mile of the Destroyer— it is too dan-
gerous to be near it when in action. A
young lieutenant with phones clapped over
his head and who follows the Destroyer in
the "Control Auto," and who gets his own
orders from the General Staff by Wireless,
guides each and every motion of the
distant Radium Destroyer simply by mov-
ing certain keys and twitches in front of
him.
Soon his Destroyer has arrived in front
of the enemy's first line of concreted steel
trenches, protecting the land behind them.
In front of the trenches the ground has
been purposely cut up to impede the
progress of ordinary vehicles. The Gen-
eral Staff, of course, knew this,, and built
the Destroyer accordingly Our friend
the lieutenant stops the Destroyer's truck
and moves a lever. Immediately the De-
stroyer hops from the truck and begins
to jump with amazing speed oyer the cut-
up ground, in grasshopper fashion. A' few
hundred feet from the well-concealed con-
crete trenches the Destroyer is made to
halt. Our lieutenant moves a few
switches, turns a knob and presses a key —
then lol the inferno begins. *
A solid green "Radium-K" emanation
ray bursts from the top of the Destroyer
and hiU the concreted steel trench. Our
front cover gives but a faint idea of what
happens. The Radium-K emanation has
the property of setting off spontaneously
the dormant energy of the Atom of any
element it encounters except lead. So
when the ray hits the trench it went up in
dust, concrete, steel, men and guns behind
it, everything. After spraying the trench
lengthwise for a few minutes it is gone
completely. Only a dense cloud of vapor
hanging in the air remains. ^
The fleet of Radium Destroyers now en-
ters through the gap, destroyinjf everything
in their path. No gun can hit the Radium
Destroyer for ere the gun can get the
proper range, the Radium-K Ray has hit
the gun or the ground below it and has
sent it up in vapor, including the men be-
hind it As a demonstration, the Com-
manding General asks that the first town
encountered, a city of 300,000 souls, be
vacated within three hours, the terrorized
inhabitants are forced to comply with the
request, whereupon a dozen Destroyers
line up on the hills and spray the unlucky
I
night the War Lord has conquered the
entire world and has proclaimed himself »»
the First Planet Emperor. I
What happens afterwards when the se-
cret of the Radium Destroyer is discov-
ered by the War Lord's enemies is in-
other chapter, so we will desist 1
The above may read very fantastical and
extremely fanciful. It . is, however, not
only very possible but highly probable
Modern Science knows not the word
Impossible.
ANENT WARLIKE INVENTIONS.
It is one of the anomalies of w»rUre
that the machinery for lighting and killmg
has been brought to its present Beastly per-
fection not by swashbuckling, bloodthirsty
soldiers, but by the mild-mannered, peace-
loving civilians, says the Review ofKe-
views, true, both army and navy officers
have exercised their ingenuity to heighten
the terrors ol battle, but theirs are rather
academic improvements on the more daring
contrivances of civilian mechanics and en-
^'who gave us the turrfted ironclad? Not
a naval ofRcer, but Ericson, a marine en-
gineer. Who invented the machine gun.
which squirts death every day on » J""
European battlegrounds? Not a colonel or
a captain, but Hiram Maxim, a brilliant
American mechanic. Who gave the battle-
ship its quick-acting gun-eleviling mecBa-
nism? Not an ensign or a commodore. l>ut
Janney, an American mechanical engineer.
Who invented the motors for turning tur-
rets rapidly? Not a lieutenant, but M
Ward Leonard, one of Edison's former as-
sistants. Who planned the submariner
Not a Hull or a Nelson, but Robert Fulton,
an artist. .
So. one after another, the really impor-
tant, the really epoch-making inventions
comprising the mechanism of warfare
prove to be the conceptions of rom.intically
imaginative but lamb-like private «'"""'.
Usually their contrivances are anything Dut
perfect. They must be deveteped. and U
is in their development that the profes-
sional soldier has been most serviceable.
It is thus not only with the guns and
submarines of war, but also with the tele-
phones and electric lights of peace; for the
inventions that have made the United
States and other countries commercially
great came not from within given indua-
tries. but from without.
Always it is a dreamy pioneer, an in-
trepid free-lance, aflame with enthusiasm,
who enriches his country with a radically
new labor-saving device or way of ntilii-
ing energy Morse was a portrait painter
when he first turned his attention to the
telegraph; Bell was a teacher of deaf
mutes when he began his experiments with
the telephone: Edison was a patentee ot
telegraphs and phonographs when he gave
us the incandescent lamp ; Marconi wat «
mere lad with a liking for physics when he
conducted his first .successful experiments
in wireless telegraphy.
With the single conspicuous exception ot
Edison not one of the inventors who h»»e
blazed new trails gave to the world devicet
that could be marketed at once. Develop-
.. . »— *«>9^v H^v^lrtnm^nt hv leSS
1
fi^-: ' '^f- »-■: •I.'- -JtT^
- O'-:
■,\-i>54
C ThMTruth About
i
)STEINBECK
•»——'*— *'*™****'**''*''*''***'—'—>«>«»iiMpl n iiii iMaM|1L i» i M r i r iii f fam^mi.~...„^~.
and the
mma^
MIGRANTS
■-*•■•"■" II M IIIMI I IIII I
t«rV-vt.^- Oi»^
,*^'
BY GEORGE TH OMASUM IRON
m •
1
■
r
i
EDGAR A. GUEST
THE POET OF THE PEOPLE
JAN, 1 TO DEC 31 1941